Parkway Drive - Atlas

It’s not unknown to those that don’t live under a rock that August Burns Red is pretty much leading the metalcore scene. But surely they can’t be leading it all by themselves; it would be too much responsibility! Well, that’s why Parkway Drive is there to take some of the weight. Why didn’t I mention Bullet for My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, and As I Lay Dying? They’re fucking huge, yes, but they’re not the groups that 80% of the bands that make up the metalcore genre are practically worshipping let alone creating music that’s identical to theirs (i.e. I The Breather, For Today, Architects, Haste the Day, Texas in July, etc.). Back to Parkway Drive, they, along with August Burns Red, are pretty much the leaders and primary representatives of the “generic” metalcore sound that people keep referring to. Does this mean that they’re shitty? Hell fucking no it doesn’t, a band’s popularity never determines their quality. For example, I don’t know about you guys, but I fucking love August Burns Red. They’re not my favorite metalcore band, but they are, by far, one of the best groups that the genre has to offer. The reason why is that although they have all of these other bands that sound extremely similar to them, they still manage to sound different. Parkway Drive, on the other hand, has a little bit more of a difficult time with that.

Instead of supporting their status as being one of the most influential metalcore bands of all-time, Parkway Drive’s 2012 release, Atlas, blends in with all of the other smaller bands and doesn’t stand out in any way, shape, or form. I’ve known about Parkway Drive ever since I got into metalcore and deathcore in 2007, but I’ve never bothered to look them up until the cover of their new album was shoved in my face via ads on nearly every fucking YouTube video I watched before it was released. I’m not usually one to judge albums by their artwork, but the cover for Atlas is one of the coolest metalcore album covers I’ve seen since Threat Signal’s Vigilance in 2009 (one of my favorite metalcore albums too). So, with the artwork sparking my interest, I decided that it was time to listen to the band that I hear about online, from friends, at concerts, and from other places I can’t remember.

After listening to Atlas, I decided to get some of Parkway Drive’s other albums to do a bit of compare and contrast work. After doing that for about a week I concluded that Atlas is pretty much the best and most solid piece of work that Parkway Drive has put out. But that really isn’t saying much because they haven’t changed much over the ten years that they’ve existed. The other album that I listened to that isn’t too bad at all by them is Horizons. Although easily comparable with their newest album, Atlas pretty much crushes Horizons as far as solidity and catchiness. The reason why Parkway Drive has been a leading force in metalcore is because of how confident their music sounds, and the confidence is due to the large hardcore punk influence in their music (in other words, they’re more hardcore punk than metal). I think that they aren’t truly as confident as they sound; the hardcore punk influence makes their music sound more confident. This is what I hear in all of Parkway Drive’s albums except for Atlas.

Unlike their other albums, Atlas practically screams with power, confidence, and readiness. Parkway Drive sound much more sure of themselves as a band than they ever have before. This is why Atlas speaks out to me more than any of their other records. To me, Atlas’ predecessor, Deep Blue, sounds forced, uninspired, and somewhat dry. Although Atlas isn’t drastically different than Deep Blue, it sounds fresher, more confident, and more original. Parkway Drive do a LITTLE bit of experimenting here and there by creating unusual guitar riffs and breakdown patters that you might not be used to hearing from them. But other than that, the maturity and the confidence of the sound is what’s made this album their best so far.

The guitars are very deep and meaty. There isn’t much treble aside from the crunch of the heavy distortion (which is mostly bass anyway). As far as the composition goes, don’t expect anything from the guitars beyond your typical deep chugging, typical metalcore guitar harmonizations, and the occasional high-pitched guitar harmonics used as melodic leads. To be honest, the guitar work on this album is boring. There’s nothing wrong with it at all, though. The guitarists don’t ever fuck up, they don’t do shit that causes me to cringe in disgust, and they don’t play overly-simple stuff; they just don’t do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) out of the ordinary. The distortion of the guitars is very wide and powerful, so it pretty much completely covers up the bass (why is this such a common trait in this genre??).

The vocals are fairly generic when it comes to the general style of Parkway Drive’s music. The vocalist almost exclusively does mid-ranged growls with the occasional high-pitched screams, but that’s more common in their earlier works. There isn’t really much singing at all except for when the whole band is singing a line in the background. His growls are good, but they aren’t any better than For Today or As I Lay Dying. The drums, on the other hand, are something worth talking about. The drummer isn’t outstanding, but I’m glad to hear a drummer that doesn’t ONLY play generic metalcore and hardcore patterns, especially during the breakdowns. Probably my favorite thing about him is that he plays blast beats. And it’s not the fact that he actually chooses to play them that make me smile, it’s the fact that he’s fucking good at them. The unconventional patterns and fills that he comes up with show that he’s got something interesting to offer to those that are tired of hearing the same simple breakdowns, fills, and triplets during fast parts. Yes, he does play all of those, but he keeps you listening by throwing in those fills or pulling off those odd breakdowns when you’re not expecting it. The problem that I’m having is that he’s not doing this enough. If he played that interesting shit more often on this album, the music would be much more engaging.

As far as songs go, the entire album is one big wall of monotony. Every song has the same sound, similar composition, and the same goddamn high-predictability. There is one song that speaks out to me, and that is Wide Eyes. The entire first minute and a half (that’s 1 minute 30 seconds) is probably the album’s ultimate climax. The intro is awesome, the beginning with the breakdown and the melodic guitar lick is fucking epic, and the blast beats just make me smile. But it’s not just the first half of the song that has all that, the whole song does. This song alone is enough proof to show that Parkway Drive is, in fact, a solid, confident, and fucking powerful metalcore band that cannot and will not be stopped. Although this album will fail to impress anyone beyond the hardcore and diehard metalcore fans, Atlas has helped me fully understand why Parkway Drive is as powerful and influential as they are today. I would give this album 12/20. 

Within the Ruins - Elite

Within the Ruins has always been pretty big in the underground metalcore scene. It was in 2011 when they REALLY got their name out there in the world when they won the opening spot on the Summer Slaughter Tour which included The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Dying Fetus, Oceano, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and a few other bands. I didn’t bother looking them up before seeing them that year, and I was minimally impressed by their performance anyway. What caused me to look this album up? Look at the fucking cover and tell me it doesn’t make you want to listen to it. The big quest that a lot of music critics out there are on is finding the metalcore bands out there that aren’t like everyone else and that are actually unique and great. Within the Ruins, unfortunately, isn’t one of those bands. But, they have done something that the majority of the METALCORE genre hasn’t done.

The average metalcore band plays simple breakdowns, melodic choruses, and not really much else. Within the Ruins does what a lot of deathcore bands do, and that is the Meshuggah-influenced polyrhythmic style breakdowns known as “djent”. Ok, yes, they don’t sound like the majority of metalcore bands, but this isn’t what I meant! Within the Ruins is doing exactly what Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, After the Burial, and Chelsea Grin are doing (all deathcore bands), except Within the Ruins are not as heavy, not as interesting, less-colorful, and less inventive. They sound like a Born of Osiris cover band that’s not as heavy.  On top of the already overdone polyrhythmic tempos during the verses, the breakdowns themselves are too predictable and fail to deliver the amount of energy they’re supposed to.

In fact, the entire album lacks energy. It’s like The Common Man’s Collapse by Veil of Maya, except Elite is not as complex, more monotonous, and not nearly as catchy. Here’s the thing that Within the Ruins does that tricks you: the first two tracks off this album are awesome. The breakdowns are complex, the frilly guitar riffs and the complex harmonizations, although overdone, are catchy. Then, after the second track, everything grows old. You hear the exact same thing over and over again for the entire duration of the album. This very interesting and complex style being played over and over without any sort of variation is bad; it completely ruins the concept of the style being interesting. It’s this type of stuff that’s hard to review because it doesn’t leave me anything to talk about. There’s nothing substantially good OR bad about it other than that it’s completely bland.

The musicianship is nothing substantial at all. The guitarists’ technical skills are what one would expect from someone playing the style of metalcore that they’re playing. The drumming, just like the guitars, is nothing special. In fact, the drums are actually a disappointment considering that this type of music is all about the tempo and the drums. The drummer rarely delivers and interesting fill, everything he does during the breakdowns fails to show any interest in being creative, and the complex kick drum patterns he does, although skillfully impressive, fail to be memorable and are forgotten as soon as they’re played.

There is one positive to Elite that needs to be mentioned. Have Within the Ruins improved as a band and as songwriters? Fuck yes they have! The shitty songs that they played on The Summer Slaughter Tour in 2011, when compared to all the songs on Elite, are evidence that Within the Ruins have matured their sound, expanded their creativity, and drastically improved their instrumental skills. This is something that should not be ignored because it’s definitely a big pro that this record carries. In fact, it’s enough of an improvement to have me looking forward to see what Within the Ruins puts out next; because if they keep improving like they have here, these guys have the potential to add up to be a fucking monster of a metalcore band. Unfortunately, Elite is all we have right now as far as improvement from these guys goes. I would only recommend this to diehard metalcore fans and give it an 11/20. If you want a song recommendation, Feeding Frenzy is pretty much the only track off this album that I would ever go back and listen to in the future. 

A Past Unknown - Vainglory

A Past Unknown has been using social networking sites to their advantage in order to get their name out there in the world. This is the same reason why new bands such as Rings of Saturn and Strychnia have been trending on Facebook and Twitter. Although I go on Facebook every once in a while, Twitter is where I’m the most active. And one thing that I will say is that A Past Unknown is no longer the underground metalcore band I’ve been going to see for free for the past year or so. Because I’m friends with the vocalist’s brother (who lives in my area), he’s always been updating me on what A Past Unknown has been up to. I reviewed their first album some time ago and I remember saying that although it’s a very catchy and energizing record, there’s a lot of room for improvement, which is EXACTLY what I expect from a debut, because it’s hard to come up with a good follow-up record to a flawless debut. Anyway, I signed up for Twitter roughly a month before Vainglory’s release date. And if there’s one thing I remember about the album’s release, it’s that after getting repeatedly annoyed by the band’s repeated ads and “check us out!” messages, I witnessed a swarm of positive feedback and rave reviews from possibly hundreds of people worldwide. Of course, I was one of the people that, out of support for the band, decided to buy the album on its release date; I understand why this album has caused so much fucking hype.

So that I can do some compare and contrast with Vainglory and To Those Perishing, I’m going to restate some of the stuff I thought the band could work on from their first album, To Those Perishing. The majority of the problems I had with To Those Perishing are the problem I have with just about every metalcore album I have problems with. That problem is having too many breakdowns. In A Past Unknown’s case, the problem was not only having too many breakdowns, it was that 80% of those breakdowns were very minimalistic, simple, and boring. To Those Perishing had its moments, the biggest one being the sixth track off the record, titled The Critic; which contained beautiful melodies, crushing breakdowns, and a cacophony of colorful harmonizations. Beyond that, the rest of the “interesting parts” didn’t go anywhere beyond a catchy breakdown tempo or an interesting guitar lead. The rest of the album was just above average, giving my ending score for To Those Perishing 14/20. If they could fix that breakdown thing and put more interesting shit in there while still keeping their jumpy and energetic personality, I would be much happier.

The first sign of mass improvement that Vainglory shows is musicianship; both skill and creativity. Obviously due to a few minor lineup changes, the style that some of the members play on Vainglory is different than that of To Those Perishing. The first is the drums. The drumming on Vainglory is not only much more interesting, it’s more colorful and experimental. The fills that are used differ from each other, the kick drum patterns during the breakdowns can be anywhere from simple and generic to random blasts of speed and complexity. I have nothing against the simple breakdown drum pattern, but the variety of styles and patterns used by the drummer helps take away any sense of monotony. On top of just being more interesting, the drums express much more skill that I feel To Those Perishing was missing. Along with that, the breakdowns themselves are fewer in number and greater in variety. Every metalcore band throws in a simple breakdown here and there, no matter how technical or complex they are, so of course there are a couple of the typical down-tuned simple breakdowns. But those are contrasted by either breakdowns with a lot of atmospheric guitar melodies and melodic vocals or by breakdowns with complex polyrhythmic patterns. The different breakdowns also differ with tempo and pitch. One of the much more interesting breakdowns in Vainglory takes place two minutes into the eighth track, Divided.

The vocals have more variety in them as well. The vocals in To Those Perishing consisted of mid-range screams with the occasional high-pitched scream and some singing every once in a while. In Vainglory, the mid-range screams are still the dominant vocal style, but they’re a little more high-pitched than the ones in To Those Perishing and have a considerably greater amount of energy and emotion. Also, you can hear growls, high-pitched screams, yelling, and a lot more singing, which is yet ANOTHER factor that has helped fix the monotony problem To Those Perishing had.

You can tell by now that I felt To Those Perishing to be a monotonous record, despite all of the great qualities it had. I’ve also stated a few major factors that I feel are contributors to the fact that Vainglory ISN’T monotonous and boring. The one thing that I have yet to say is what I feel is the biggest contributor to that, and that is dynamics. I actually just realized this about a week ago, I had an underlying feeling that something from To Those Perishing was missing, and a week ago, I realized that To Those Perishing was missing dynamics; THAT was the reason why so many people felt it didn’t have enough energy and was monotonous, although it had potential. Now that I’m listening to Vainglory, what do I hear? DYNAMICS! The contrasts in volume help tone down the calmer parts and throw down the heavier parts like something really, really heavy. The energy that Vainglory carries is one that can only be understood once it is heard, and it’s primarily due to the fact that the fucking thing has dynamics, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Purpose, Cursed, Reason to Fear, and The Search are all perfect examples of the colorful dynamics used in Vainglory, A Past Unknown style.

To Those Perishing was a great debut because it left plenty of room for improvement. Now that the ultimate power titled Vainglory is now upon us, I think it’s safe to say that A Past Unknown is one of the better and more interesting metalcore bands of our time. Some of the things they do aren’t what metalcore fans would expect, there’s variety in just about everything, and most of all, there are fucking dynamics! Vainglory takes its rightful place alongside Miss May I’s At Heart, Mnemic’s Mnemesis, and As I Lay Dying’s Awakened as one of the best metalcore albums released in 2012. Vainglory gets my score of 16/20. 

Motionless in White - Infamous

Motionless in White released their breakthrough album Creatures in 2010. Ever since then, their popularity has continually increased to the point where they’re headlining tours all over the world. The big question: was Creatures a big fat fluke? Or is Motionless in White truly one of the better metalcore bands out there? Well, I was only minimally impressed with Creatures, the only song that truly stuck out to me being Abigail with its interesting vocal harmonizations and its unique sound and concept. But hey, the album as a whole was better than most of the other metalcore albums I’ve been hearing lately! Let’s take a moment and look at first impressions: the artwork, although slightly cliché, fits the band’s theme perfectly and has a nice dark look. The member of the band that gets the most goddamn attention here is Chris Motionless, who is (surprising as it may seem), a Marilyn Manson fanatic. How can I tell? Well, when he cut his hair sometime this year along with the extreme amount of makeup he puts on his face makes him look like…well…Marilyn Manson.

I’m a huge fan of Marilyn Manson, I always have been. I’m obviously not one of those ridiculous fanboys that only listens to Marilyn Manson and other random shit like that, but I thoroughly enjoyed his performance at the 2009 Mayhem Festival and currently own Mechanical Animals and Golden Age on CD, but seriously, Chris Motionless has taken this thing to a level that I haven’t even seen before! This new Motionless in White album, titled “Infamous”, has incorporated Manson-style industrial metal into their generic metalcore sound. This is an EXTREMELY risky choice and because of that, Infamous has turned out to be a disaster. Unlike other metalcore bands that incorporate industrial metal into their sound like Mnemic, and…well…Mnemic (I have yet to hear another band fuse those two genres and still sound good), Motionless in White completely fails.

It’s not so much the things that they chose to do that fuck everything up, it’s the way that the use those things that just piss me off. For example, the first song has a soft piano riff played in a minor key. Here’s the problem with that little piano riff: it’s cliché as fuck and just sounds cheesy. Also, the riff has nothing to do with the rest of the music AT ALL! You get this really soft piano section and then BAM!, something of a whole different world is thrown at your face. There’s no transition at all. TRANSITIONS ARE YOUR FRIENDS, USE THEM! So while I have yet to hear some sort of melody in this song, some really mystical-sounding keyboards rise out of the background and really give the music an amazing touch. Then you get a section where that same goddamn piano riff comes in, except this time, it’s a pipe organ, and it’s taking the dominant spot in the music. Seriously, that whole gothic minor piano/organ thing is a great idea! But all potential of it helping the music is butchered because the band didn’t have the motivation to come up with their own fucking riff to match the rest of the damn song.

Motionless in White’s reputation for having an extremely gothic appearance has inspired the band to introduce various gothic elements into their music. Along with the disastrous one that I listed above, there are others that are worth mentioning. The one that bothers me the most is the reason why I even took the time to type out Marilyn Manson’s NAME: and that’s the song A-M-E-R-I-C-A. All you have to hear is the muffled keyboard riff for you to notice the Marilyn Manson sound this song is going to have. This entire song is one big fat fantasy coming from the mind of Chris Motionless of his burning desire to have the reputation and persona of the legendary musician. The really creepy talking sound that he does, the effects he uses on his screams, and even the style that he uses to let out his lyrics are way too similar to Marilyn Manson for him to “just be a huge influence”. This is way more than that, and it doesn’t sound good at all. The level of cheesiness in this song can’t be measured by any scale that I’m aware of. And on top of that, what the hell happened to the singing? It’s just downright terrible! You want another example of this? Although A-M-E-R-I-C-A is a much better example, The Divine Infection is another example of a song that sounds like a shitty Marilyn Manson cover.

Another change that has taken place in Motionless in White’s sound is the style of the heavier parts. In Creatures, the heavy parts were made up of fancy breakdown-style guitar chugs. Now, the really heavy parts have more of a thrashy sound that is at a higher and more constant speed. I think this is a great direction for these guys to take, because the breakdowns are used more sparingly now; but there’s a problem. The problem ends up being one of two things. The first thing that happens is that the brutality gets butchered by a big block of cheese that could be a keyboard riff, a lyrical line, or anything else like that. The second thing that happens is that it gets old and tasteless a little too fast. Luckily, Motionless in White takes care of that most of the time by throwing in melodic choruses, breakdowns, or keyboard sections to help spice things up a bit.

Despite all of these major flaws that have caused me to give this album a below-average score, Motionless in White still manage to…wait, what the hell is this? WHY IS BJORN STRID A GUEST VOCALIST FOR THESE FUCKS?? Bjorn “Speed” Strid, the godlike vocalist for the Swedish melodic death band Soilwork, is featured as a guest vocalist on Puppets 2 (The Rain). Being the Soilwork fan that I am, I know Bjorn’s voice when I hear it (it’s just too unique to miss), but why is he being associated with Motionless in White? I understand better why he did guest vocals for Dutch symphonic metal band ReVamp, but DAMN! Soilwork is from a completely different league. Honestly, his singing doesn’t do anything more than offer the listener the luxury of having a break from Chris’ deteriorating singing. The breakdown at the end of that song is probably the pinnacle-point of the entire album (which is fucking pathetic).

Ok, now that I’m done ranting about something I (surprisingly) never noticed before when listening to this album, Motionless in White has proved to me that Creatures was a mere fluke. There are no songs off of Infamous that I would recommend, I wouldn’t bother spending your time listening to this album unless you’re a hardcore metalcore fan that’s likely to enjoy this album. But even THAT’S unlikely. I would give Infamous 7/20. 

Upon this Dawning - To Keep us Safe

Italian metalcore band Upon this Dawning just released their Fearless Records debut titled To Keep us Safe. I will admit that in metal (for some reason especially metalcore), I tend to base initial prejudice on an album when I first look at the artwork (before I listen to it). Unfortunately, this was the case with To Keep us Safe because, well, the artwork is pretty damn ugly, I’m not going to lie. But for reviewing purposes, I decided to give the fucker a listen and was surprised at the quality of the music. Upon this Dawning has the ability to have all the current metalcore trends in their music while still creating a record that could be considered original and even unique in some aspects. Here’s a piece of advice: don’t take that sentence and blow it out of proportion, because (spoiler alert) this is just plain old generic metalcore. But like the generic forms of all genres, there’s still plenty (and I mean a lot) of elbow room, leaving enough space for bands to stick to the core elements while still striving to be unique and special. Some other bands that could be considered part of that “generic but unique and original” would be Killswitch Engage, Miss May I, Bullet for my Valentine, Eyes set to Kill, and the band I am going to now discuss, Upon this Dawning.

Just so that I could say that I have seen it, I decided to look up the music video for the first track off the album, A New Beginning, which features Chris Motionless (Motionless in White) on vocals. First, let me say that I’m not the biggest fan of music videos in general, because, well, most of them suck. And the WORST ones are the ones that have an actual storyline behind what’s going on in the video, which then takes the song out of the spotlight and turns it into background music. The music video for A New Beginning is the type of music video that I like watching; the kind that simply just shows the band playing the song in a really cool setting. But like most videos, it kind of turned me off to the band because of infamous dance-moves that I’d just rather go on without seeing and the part where Chris Motionless appears to be screaming the entire time, when in the recording, he’s actually primarily doing mid-range screams and growls.

Like I mentioned before, Upon this Dawning plays nothing that you haven’t heard before. But that’s not to say that they can’t still be done well. Because Upon this Dawning doesn’t possess any of the really BAD qualities that would normally butcher a metalcore band’s music like auto-tune singing and cheesy synthesizer sounds, To Keep us Safe turns out to be an enjoyable record for the avid metalcore listener. The music doesn’t get overly-repetitive, the amount of breakdowns in each song isn’t over-the-top, the base note of the breakdown change every once in a while (not something you hear in metalcore and screamo very often at all), and the energy present in the members and their music shines through all the production work with ease.

What the better breakdown-dependent metalcore bands figure out is that they should have those complex breakdown-like rhythmic patterns, and then have that one section that just leaps out at you (BOOM!). For example, Listening to Miss May I’s Hey Mister, they have plenty of chugging sections, but there are those two breakdowns that stand apart from the others simply because the majority of the band’s (seemingly infinite) energy is channeled into those two breakdowns. The problem that the majority of the metalcore genre has, and especially Upon this Dawning, is that 80% of the breakdowns that you hear are those super-energetic ones that should be used sparingly. This alone bothers me almost constantly while listening to this album; the extremely high energy is just way too constant and it’s constant to the point where it stops sounding energetic after a while.

The screams are pretty good, nothing that I have to complain about them. I think it’s the fact that the singing DOESN’T have auto-tune that makes the singing sound so good.  But after about my 11^th listen of this album, the singing doesn’t seem to be as good as people might make it out to be (in other words, the singing needs a big “OVERRATED” sticker on it). There are several places where the harmonizations in the singing is absolutely pristine, but that’s about as good as it gets. The guitarist/singer rarely falls out-of-key, which is probably due to studio editing (which isn’t something to hold against them, no singer is perfect, and EVERYONE does some touch-ups on their vocals in the studio). All of the musicians in Upon this Dawning are as mediocre and average as you can get. They all fit the requirements needed to play catchy and energetic metalcore, and that’s all there is to it. So because of that, there’s not really any need for riff-raffing about the members because…well…there isn’t anything to say about them.

Italy’s Upon this Dawning release a generic, but refreshing metalcore record that is definitely worth a listen to metalcore fans. The only time that I would listen to this in the future is when one of their songs pop up while I have all of my metalcore on shuffle. But honestly, I feel that the energetic vibe speaks out to me in a way that makes me enjoy it much more than if it were without that one thing. Also, the complete absence of any common metalcore traits that could be considered disastrous helps a shitload. That’s why I’m going to give To Keep us Safe 13/20. 

Motionless in White - Creatures

Word about this album spread pretty damn quickly through the metalcore community. Like some other bands out there, one of the things that helped Motionless in White get more attention was the appearance of the band themselves. I will admit, what they have going is unique and isn’t too shabby, but the fact that their vocalist looks identical to a young Marilyn Manson isn’t going to affect their music in any way at all. I mean, theatrics and other shit like that can either enhance or butcher a live experience, but I’ve never seen them live, so I guess I don’t really have much at all to use as any sort of prejudice. But in order to avoid getting too off-track, Motionless in White is quickly approaching the release of their new album, Infamous. So when I was told this, I thought that this is a perfect time to review the predecessor to Infamous, Creatures. And on a side note, I will be reviewing Infamous sometime this week or next week, whenever I get around to it.

Metalcore has turned into a very touchy subject recently. It’s surprised me how if a metalcore band isn’t innovative or progressive in SOME way or another, they get a big “GENERIC SHIT” sticker slapped across their foreheads before getting the boot from critics. As for me, I’m not a complete and total hater of the generic and pure metalcore bands; but I won’t disagree with the fact that there most definitely has been a decrease in quality in the genre over the past four or so years. When it comes to Motionless in White, in no way, shape, or form would I consider them progressive or innovative. But I wouldn’t consider them as being in the melting-pot (they’re probably more like waist-deep). In other words, Motionless in White is a generic metalcore band with a unique sound. Some of the sound that you hear in Creatures can be heard in their debut disaster, When Love met Destruction, but since I don’t like that album very much at all, Creatures is what I like to talk about when talking about Motionless in White’s sound.

Probably what most people point out is some of the extremely dark and crushing breakdowns that can be heard all throughout Creatures. Despite the truth that those breakdowns really do contribute to the band’s sound, they really aren’t anything that special. I’m not one that typically compares bands when criticizing, but I feel that since neither of these bands are looking to be innovative or progressive, it’s ok. Those of you that are familiar with the metalcore masters Miss May I know that even though their breakdowns aren’t totally complex, the amazing instrumental skill from the guitarists and (especially) the drummer literally max-out the intensity level. So if you decide to play more generic and simple breakdowns, you NEED to make sure that you have mind-blowing musicians to make them interesting, catchy, and most importantly, tight. I don’t hear much of that in any of the breakdowns on this album. Yeah, the breakdowns on Abigail are pretty impressive, but that’s pretty much it as far as I can hear. All of the other breakdowns are either sloppy, boring, overly simple, or just dry and emotionless.

In order to not sound overly harsh, I should say that none of the musicians sound unexceptional or bad in any way. They all fit the bill for a metalcore musician and for what Motionless in White’s sound requires. There is obviously a bassist because when I turn up my subs, I can hear tons of bass, but the guitars and drums seem to totally cover anything that the bassist does, which is ANOTHER thing that I have a problem with the majority of metalcore bands out there. To me, the bassist should do much more than just provide a lower end for the band’s sound; they need to have a part where they’re actually playing something beyond the root-notes. And in rock and several other genres, sticking to the root notes is EXACTLY what the bassist needs to do. But come ON, this is metal we’re talking about, the most complex genre of music next to classical and jazz! We need to hear more from the bassist!

Frontman Chris Motionless is who everyone thinks of when they think about Motionless in White (there are too many bands that have that situation, it’s fucking depressing). After listening to Creatures over and over and over and over, there isn’t anything wrong with anything that he does. His deep mid-ranged screams are very strong and have a great foundation. His growls are crisp and strong, but I don’t feel that their overly-powerful sound fits the band’s melodic sound very well. Everyone knows that he has two types of screams: he has the typical higher-than-usual exhaled screams that are ok, but not something I would make a big deal over. And then you have these inhuman shrieks that have been known to cause chills to run down the spines of the weak-hearted. Even though I’m not a huge fan of those shrieks, they most definitely stand as a very unique quality for this album. So I don’t like them, but I like that they’re there (if that makes any sense) because it makes Creatures that much less boring and predictable. If you want to hear the most famous (and best) example of this, the last breakdown on my favorite song on the album, Abigail, has Chris growling deeply and letting out an inhuman shriek screaming “how could you??”.

Pretty much the only reason (that I can think of) why some people have labeled Motionless in White as being a “gothic metalcore” band is because they have an extreme gothic look and that they have some synthesized orchestral elements in a couple of their songs (i.e. Immaculate Misconception and Creatures). But I just hear metalcore. So Motionless in White DOES in fact have some unique qualities, but other than that, there’s not much else that they have. The fact that their breakdowns don’t have as much effort as I want to hear makes their music grow dry and tasteless after about six songs or so. The synthesizers and unique vocals help give you something to look forward too, but other than that, everything is just average. So all in all, I would only recommend this to metalheads that like their metalcore to be a bit more on the heavier side of things. The song Abigail is most definitely worth a listen, I love it, but the album as a whole gets my score of 12/20 for being an average metalcore album with a couple unique qualities.  

Click here for the official music video for Abigail

The Crimson Armada - Conviction

Alright, what new metalcore is out there waiting to get the world’s attention? I think that The Crimson Armada should be one of the newer metalcore bands receiving attention from the public. After being completely disgusted with what the metalcore genre has turned into, The Crimson Armada is a relief for me, therefore gaining back a tad bit more respect for the metalcore genre. If you want to get a more detailed description of my disappointment about modern metalcore, read the review I wrote on I the Breather’s newest album. I discovered this album while flipping through Decibel Magazine when a full-page ad announcing the album’s release jumped out at me. I tore the page out and took it home so that I would remember to look it up when I got home from work. And to be honest, I’m glad I did, because Conviction was a pleasant surprise.

First of all, The Crimson Armada is NOT an August Burns Red-worshipping, Christian, hipster metalcore band. These guys take influences from screamo bands like Asking Alexandria, metalcore bands like Miss May I and As I Lay Dying, and deathcore groups like Heaven Shall Burn. No, this is not me making wild guesses; the band mentioned these bands in an interview when asked what some of their biggest influences were. After listening to this album, I decided to give their debut a listen just for the hell of it. It turns out that their first album kind of sucks. But I’m not letting that bring down my opinion on Conviction because it’s always the sophomore release that proves a band’s worthiness.

The song structure on the album uses Atreyu’s Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses (one of my favorite metalcore albums ever) as a blueprint, except MUCH heavier and darker. The majority of the breakdowns used in this album are simple and have been used since the genre’s origin in the late 1990s, so there’s a serious problem with most of the breakdowns here. But there are some breakdowns that really catch my attention (especially the ones in the first and second tracks). So overall, the breakdowns aren’t a TOTAL disaster, but I would really like to hear something new (which is very difficult since everyone seems to be using breakdowns nowadays).

One thing that’s somewhat unique about this album is the amount of orchestral and symphonic elements that are used. Yes, I know that Sonic Syndicate and God Forbid have always been known for that, but it’s still an extremely rare element to find in metalcore music. You can hear plenty of this in Juggernaut, the second track off the album. For me, the addition of symphonic sounds really changes the entire sound of the music, therefore taking me on a whole new kind of journey that is like nothing any other metalcore band has ever done before. Something that’s very hard for a metalcore band to do is make the melodic parts and the really heavy parts blend together smoothly and not sound really weird and out of place. The Crimson Armada does a pretty good job of that, although there are some parts that really need some tweaking. The singing is average on my book, and exactly what I expect out of a metalcore band like The Crimson Armada.

Ok, here’s the bothersome part about this album, the screams kind of suck. They sound very forces and strained, but yet very powerful. They sort of sound like the vocalist from The Black Dahlia Murder (dare I say), except with less awesomesauce. Besides that, only slight repetitiveness and monotony are there to bother me; everything else checks out as satisfying. The drummer is very good with the kick drums, but could use some work on overusing the high hat. The guitarists and bassist don’t have anything special about them that I can see. They’re just your typical metalcore musicians. After being completely disappointed and embarrassed by the metalcore genre, The Crimson Armada has (more or less) saved the day with their latest album, Conviction, which gets my score of 15/20. 

Endrone - The Sins Within

I’ve never met a single person that knows about Endrone. And to be honest, I’m not all that surprised. The band was really underground and they didn’t last that long. One thing is for sure, I’ve been listening to them for four years and they’re still one of the heaviest metalcore bands in my collection. Not only that, they do sound quite similar to Mnemic, another HEAVY metalcore band in my collection, which means that Mnemic fans will find Endrone easily pleasurable. But even though these guys are heavy as fuck and are very similar to Mnemic, don’t expect something TOO mind-blowing. I read in an interview of one of the members after the band split by a huge fan that although Endrone was all about creating quality music that was original and (of course) really heavy, the band had the really immature hope of getting almost instantly noticed by record labels and obtaining success. Yes, there’s been plenty of bands whose popularity seems to EXPLODE the instant they release their debut album, but that’s usually because of being in the right place at the right time and being signed on to the right label at that right time…in the right place. Endrone seemed to just expect it to happen on its own, which isn’t something that’s worth breaking up over if it doesn’t happen.

Even though there were other complications and issues that caused the breakup, Endrone’s record still remains on my computer and hasn’t been forgotten by me. Ok, now that I’ve gotten sidetracked enough, I need to do what I’ve come here to do, tell you about the album and whether it’s worth your time or not. The short answer is that it is very much worth your time. I know that I keep dwelling on the fact of how HEAVY these guys are, but that’s because one of the main goals of this review is to get that point across and understood (believe me, there’s A LOT of you out there that have really thick skulls). Let’s start with a dissection of the first song, The Sins Within. You can tell by just hearing the opening guitar riff that this is something heavier than the traditional metalcore sound. The guitar distortion isn’t super crunchy, but it has a very loud, punchy sound.

The drums and the vocals are mostly what gives Endrone their heavy sound. In the title track, listen to how LOUD the kick drums are! Obviously this was done on purpose to intensify the music, but they tuned the kick drums in such a way that it pummels your eardrums, but doesn’t drown everything out. Also, the kick drums are turned down during some parts that don’t need to be as heavy. Also, the vocals are really nasty mid-range screams, which is EXACTLY what a metalcore band needs to do if they want to sound as heavy as possible. But the vocalist also expresses his ability to let out high-pitched screams and to sing a lot like the Mnemic vocalist (probably unintentional, but I’ll never know for sure). Those are the parts that sound speak MNEMIC whenever they come on, the really soft and melodic parts (usually the choruses). The best example of this is the song I Admire, which is also my favorite track off the album.

One element that pops up a lot in this album is a hint of nu metal. I’m not talking about the Limp Bizkit/Rage Against the Machine kind of nu metal, I’m talking about the kind that Drowning Pool (post-Sinner era), Korn, and Deftones create. The really atmospheric and somewhat melodic, but still crushingly heavy. Also, there are several industrial metal influences that I can hear, although I can’t name any specific artists that could have possibly influenced their sound. But is this album worth your time? Fuck yes it is. This album is metalcore, but is packed with influences from nu metal, industrial metal, and alternative rock. Still being one of the heaviest metalcore albums I’ve ever heard in my life, The Sins Within gets a score of 15/20, which is a really good score for an underground metalcore band. Don’t expect any future activity from Endrone, but you should at least have The Sins Within for your metalcore collection because it’s easily a piece of audible art like no other. 

All that Remains - Overcome

Ok, now for me to go through the painstaking process of reviewing one of the most famous and most infamous metalcore albums in history, Overcome by All that Remains. Remember, I used to be in love with this album back during the time of its release. It was roughly two years ago that I started going “eeehhh” at this album. One thing that I’ll never change my mind about is that their performance at the 2009 Mayhem Festival was great and very entertaining. One thing that I also haven’t changed my mind about (yet) is that the only song by them that I still like is from this album, Two Weeks. But I’m even growing old of that song now. Now that I’ve listened to this thing for the first time in what seems like forever, I’m ready to write a good review on it…well, not that kind of “good”.

I’m having an extremely hard time finding positive things to say about this record. I can only say raw factual things and negative things. The heavy parts are extremely dull and horribly rushed, the melodic parts are derived from nu metal bands Disturbed and Saliva (neither of which are total disasters). I’ve heard a lot about the apparent excessive use of auto-tune in the singing, but I’m having a very hard time hearing it. There is one thing that’s easily noticeable, and that is that the singing HAS had A LOT of editing done on it. I’m serious, the singing sounds completely artificial! No, I don’t hear the uneven changes in pitch caused in auto-tune, but I definitely can tell that there was a hell of a lot of editing on the vocals.

The screaming has obviously had editing done on as well because there is no way that a vocalist can change the sound of his scream THAT much in only two years. So I can see how people would hear edited vocals and instantly just say “auto-tune” because that’s the only form of vocal editing they know of, but speaking in technical terms, there hasn’t been any auto-tune performed (that I can hear) other than possibly changing the pitch of his vocals before he starts singing so that he can sing a line with higher notes that he can’t quite reach. But I’m not saying that just because I don’t like the vocals, if for some crazy-ass reason, the vocals are actually pure and raw, then the singer just sucks altogether. So there’s really no getting out of that one, the singing sucks regardless of what’s been done to them.

Everything that the guitarists and bassist play is dull and boring. Yes, they play everything that needs to be played to be considered metalcore, but it’s completely unoriginal and FUCKING DULL, DULLER THAN A SPHERE! The distortion sounds cool at first, but then quickly gets in the way of any emotion they might be putting into what they’re playing. But I highly doubt that the guitarists are putting ANY kind of effort or emotion into their playing. I can’t even hear the bassist, so there’s no point at all talking about her.

Well, here’s a unique thing about them (if you’re hoping to hear something like that about them): they fuse metalcore with another genre. This is something that’s been done for over a decade, the most common fusion being metalcore with death metal (most commonly known as deathcore). But there are bands like Threat Signal and Demon Hunter that fuse metalcore with thrash metal, Mnemic whom fuses metalcore elements with industrial metal, Mutiny Within and Periphery who fuse metalcore with several genres like melodic death, alternative metal, power metal, djent (which I don’t consider a real genre), and rock. All that Remains fuses metalcore with hard rock and nu metal (mainly new metal, but there’s enough hard rock in their music that it should be mentioned).

So metalcore+nu metal+hard rock=All that Remains. If you ask me, that’s a pretty difficult task to pull-off and make it sound legit. Well, All that Remains has been doing that for the past 10 years and it sucks. The idea was great, and at first, the nu metal sounds they were implementing in their music were from heavier bands like Mudvayne and Slipknot. Now, they use much more melodic, mainstream and easier-selling nu metal elements that are most notably used by Five Finger Death Punch (although they’re rock now), Saliva, and post-2002 Disturbed. This has ended up in a complete collapse in the band’s quality and creativity. No wonder drummer Mike Bartlett left the band instantly after they released The Fall of Ideals in 2006! They started sucking!! But don’t get me wrong, the idea was great, but once the experimentation with better-selling nu metal elements started, they went downhill.

If you can’t quite pinpoint my opinion on this album, it sucks. It’s painful enough listening to it while I’m writing this review. I would give this album a 4/20. Nothing else needs to be said in this review, don’t waste your time on this piece of trash, it’s not worth your time. There are so many better metalcore bands than All that Remains! THIS ALUBM IS TRASH!

I the Breather - Truth and Purpose

I’m going to be honest: as a whole, I’m not a big fan of the metalcore genre, but there are several amazing metalcore bands. Just to list off a few of my favorite metalcore bands, there’s Miss May I, Threat Signal, Mnmeic, Killswitch Engage, Structures, Oh, Sleeper, Eyes Set to Kill, and Atreyu. Although there are others I enjoy listening too (like As I Lay Dying and God Forbid), those are ones that are most worthy of mentioning. I’m not an elitist in any kind of way, but I’m not too keen on the majority of the “generic” metalcore scene. I do like some bands from this area of the genre, but 97% of them seem to be either terrible or purely mediocre. Well, a week ago, I had one of those “oh what the hell” moments and decided to give a few of these generic metalcore bands that I’ve passed up for so long a listen. I’m not going to be considering this a series, but the first one I’ll be reviewing is I the Breather.

It seems that the generic metalcore sound has changed since I last remember. I remember the generic metalcore sound as being not so heavy and somewhat simple chord progressions (if any) like All that Remains, Atreyu, I Killed the Prom Queen, and Haste the Day (all of whom I used to really like…except for I Killed the Prom Queen…I only ever enjoyed one song by them). Now, the generic metalcore sound seems to be MUCH heavier, much more breakdown-based, much more Christian, and much, much simpler. Some people have gone to call these bands “hardcore”, a term that I personally despise. But I’m not here to rant about how the metalcore genre has evolved and transformed, I’m here to talk about one of the newer generic metalcore bands, I the Breather.

I’ve known about them for a while, maybe four months or so. But the thought of checking them out never crossed my mind. Now that I’ve listened to this album dozens of times over the past week, I’ve come to the conclusion that I the Breather is just another metalcore band, but they’re not quite EXACTLY what I expected them to be. Before I get into the majority of the album, which can be summed up in just a few sentences, I want to tell you about my first experience listening to the first track on the album, because I was so surprised that I had to restart the song before it was halfway through to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. The first song, False Prophet, starts off with a very soft keyboard/guitar line that I predicted would be playing in the background for the duration of the track. Then, the vocals kicked in and the extremely low-tuned guitars started chugging away like a bomb went off in my face. In other words, the first 1 ¼ minutes of this song were surprisingly powerful and epic.

I’ve been listening to these bands in anticipation to find the diamond in the rough, and during this song, a smile formed upon my face and I thought I had found the glimmering gem. After the intro “breakdown” I was waiting for it to be more than just breakdowns, and it turns out that this isn’t one of those “breakdown after breakdown” kind of bands. But after False Prophet ends, things start taking a not-so-good direction. First of all, the vocals aren’t really that good. The songs eventually start to drag on and become VERY repetitive and bland, which is easy to do with an epic sound like the one False Prophet brings. The drummer seems to be really unfocused on a lot of the tracks, which leads to confusion on whether the band is out of time or the drummer is falling behind. Once I finished the record, I was extremely disappointed at how False Prophet raised the bar so high and have none of the songs even come close to touching the bar with their fingertips.

The majority of these generic metalcore bands seem to worship and idolize August Burns Red (which is respectable because they are pretty damn amazing). Here’s the problem that I have with all these bands’ obsession with ABR: not only do they worship and fight to be one of the openers on the band’s next tour, but they create an EXREMELY similar (but not nearly as good and not nearly as technical) sound to ABR, which has led to what the world knows as the modern metalcore blueprint. That’s right people, August Burns Red might not be as big, but they’ve definitely become more influential than All that Remains, Killswitch Engage, Sonic Syndicate, As I Lay Dying, and (dare I say) Bullet for my Valentine. And I the Breather is nothing more than another brick in the wall of the ABR-influenced generic metalcore scene.

For those of you diehard metalcore fans that aren’t TOO picky but know a terrible band when they hear it, this album should be fairly easy to enjoy. I would give this album 9/20 for being nowhere near being the worst metalcore album ever, but nowhere near being something I would recommend and show to any of my friends. If you’re SUPER curious about what False Prophet sounds like, I think it’s a pretty fucking epic song and would at most recommend that one song.  

Mnemic - Mnemesis

On my list of metalcore bands, Mnemic is the second heaviest. Before I heard the band in the number one spot, Sons of the System (my first Mnemic album) was the heaviest metalcore record I had ever heard. I shouldn’t even have to discuss Mnemic’s history because it’s so well-known other than that they owe their fame to Metallica, who discovered Mnemic’s debut record and loved it so much that they added Mnemic as an opening act on their next European tour. That was in 2003, I didn’t know the name Mnemic until 2010, when Sons of the System was just about to be released. Since then, I’ve been stalking their website, waiting for a Seattle date to appear on the tour dates section. But anyways, I’ve been waiting for what seems like an eternity for a new record and finally, Mnemesis has been unleashed to the public. I got my first taste of the new record when Nuclear Blast posted one of the songs on their website. It felt like I was a junkie that had just received my first shot in years, the sun came up when that progressive guitar lick came on and the drums kicked in.

I can’t quite say how many times I pressed the replay button that Saturday morning......somewhere in between 10 and 20 times. I wasn’t going to draw any conclusions about the entire album based on that one song, so I waited until I could obtain the album before I got too critical. Now that I have the album playing as I’m typing this review, I can confirm the label’s words that this is something completely new for Mnemic and it.....is.....amazing.

I’m not going to talk about any of the individual songs in this review because I haven’t listened to it enough to pick out favorite tracks. But I have listened to it enough to get a strong feel of the album and grow an opinion. Ok, finally, let’s start: first of all, much of the heaviness has slipped out. This isn’t a bad thing because the album still crushes, but with a more progressive attitude. I wouldn’t say they’re more melodic; instead I would say they have a more psychedelic feel. The music in general still has a strong progressive metalcore feel, but will less breakdowns.

Also, one thing that I’ve noticed that they’ve always had in their music is a thrash metal vibe. But in Mnemesis, it’s literally nowhere to be found. So that’s one of the big progressions they’ve made; so now that the thrashy heavy crust has been removed, it’s left the rest of the sound naked and exposed. But even then, there’ve been many changes and alterations performed on the music itself. For example, the singing is a lot deeper and the vocal harmonizations are much more complex; but they still have that really Mnemicy psychedelic sound that everyone loves. The harsh vocals aren’t the yelling anymore; that has COMPLETELY gone away. Instead, it has been replaced by both deepish and midrange growling. I know that this may be a major downer for many of you because that was one of the things both of the Mnemic vocalists have been known for (by both, I mean the original one and the current one who replaced him).

Personally, I’m more of a fan of the sound that Sons of the System and The Audio Injected Soul brought to the table. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sound Mnemesis holds, but it’s not quite enough to live up to the 19/20 score I gave Sons of the System. I would highly recommend this to all metalheads, especially fans of progressive metal and metalcore. I would score this record 17/20. 

Miss May I - At Heart

If you’ve read my review on Miss May I’s second album, Monument, you know that it’s one of my favorite metalcore albums ever. So knowing that, it should be pretty obvious how excited I was when I heard the news of a new Miss May I record. Here’s what I was hoping for: Monument part 2. But, knowing the band and their strong dedication to making every album new and unique from all the others, I knew that I wasn’t going to get exactly what I was asking for. But I knew that Miss May I wasn’t going to abandon their signature sound altogether, they were going to add something new onto the sound that Monument brought to the table; and that’s exactly what they did.

I don’t know why, but ever since I started listening to all of these bands that have official logos that are used on every single album (i.e. Suffocation, Deicide, Nightwish, etc.) it bothers me when bands change their “logo” which each album. I’m not saying that changes my opinion on the album, but for some stupid reason, it really bothers me; sometimes to the point where I will take the original album artwork and put the old or better logo on the cover myself with Photoshop. It also bothers me when bands have super cool logos and choose not to use it at all on the album cover; pretty much leaving the album cover blank with just the artwork and no band name/logo or album title. Ok, now that I’m done bitching about that, I NEED to tell you about this record!

The guitar distortion and the sound of everything doesn’t really sound much different from Monument...which is good because it sounds awesome. This is the first Miss May I album to have an intro track. And to be honest, it really isn’t anything special other than a VERY, VERY gradual buildup that leads into the first track, Hey Mister. I’m going to spend a minute to talk about this song because it really speaks the whole album in one song. One thing that I’ve always loved about Miss May I is the amount of enraging emotion and anger that they cram into their songs. Hey Mister has more anger in it than any other Miss May I song I’ve EVER heard. If you can’t see where I’m going with this, I’m saying that this album is a hell of a lot heavier than both Monument and Apologies are for the Weak COMBINED.

Their bassist is the guy that does all of the singing, and he’s always stuck out to me. He has a singing voice that’s EXTREMELY crisp and razor-sharp that pierces the air with laser precision. As far as musicianship and skill goes, I have to give credit to the drummer for being one of the best metalcore drummers besides the drummer for Mnemic. That’s not an exaggeration, the only reason I call him ONE of the best drummers is because there’s always the possibility of me uncovering a metalcore band with a better drummer, but besides the Mnemic drummer and the Threat Signal drummer, this guy is the top dog from what I’ve heard.

This album is nothing short of being flawless. Other than the increased use of head-crushing breakdowns, there’s nothing at all about this album that fails to amaze me. I would give this record 19/20. Miss May I is one of the best metalcore bands in existence and I cannot stress this enough other than to just say “LISTEN TO THESE GUYS!”

Demon Hunter - Summer of Darkness

Talk about metal albums I’ve had for what seems like forever…this is an album I’ve had since before I REALLY got into metal (especially the extreme styles). I did have a growing appreciation for the more extreme styles of metal at the time, but it wasn’t something I looked for until about a year after I picked this CD up. This was about the time where I was really getting into a lot of the more mainstream styles of metal like alternative metal, nu metal, metalcore, and some areas of the melodic death genre. And in case you were wondering, I actually wasn’t into screamo at this point of my life, that interest didn’t come until years later. I didn’t know this until someone told me, but Demon Hunter is actually a local band for me (therefore one of the first local metal bands I discovered). For those of you that can’t quite put your finger of what style Demon Hunter plays, it’s pretty much a thrash-influenced metalcore. I’m not someone that even pays attention to lyrical themes (let alone letting a band’s lyrics affect my opinion on them), but it’s very widely known that Demon Hunter is an openly Christian band. I honestly couldn’t care any less what their religious/spiritual beliefs are and don’t plan on it; that’s all I’m going to say on that matter.

I stopped listening to Demon Hunter (and almost completely forgot about them too) a little bit after the release of The World is a Thorn when my musical interests branched out in an explosion of diversity (primarily in the metal world). I’ve gone back and listened to them every now and then since, but not thoroughly. I’ve mainly just been listening to Not Ready to Die, Collapsing, and Lifewar. I’m not sure what caused me to want to listen to this album in its entity again a couple days ago; but it seems that I’ve COMPLETELY forgotten how amazing this album is! Probably the reason why I consider this album to be Demon Hunter’s best is because of its large amount of intense emotion it has. Although there are several other albums out there that have a much angrier sound, Summer of Darkness is one of the few that have a soft side that shows immense beauty.

Part of what makes Demon Hunter’s general sound so angry is the strong thrash metal influence (more noticeable in The World is a Thorn, but still obvious in Summer of Darkness). It’s the thrash metal part that makes the heavier parts even heavier, leaving the rawness of the metalcore side for the softer parts. So with this mix, you get two extremes, which is actually one of my favorite types of metalcore. But the thing is, it’s VERY hard to pull off without the transitions sounding abrupt or out of place. Demon Hunter is one of the best metalcore bands at making those perfectly smooth transitions from the absolutely crushing verses to the melodic, heart-touching choruses and vice versa.

The distortion on the guitars is very crunchy, but with a lot of mid-range and less treble to cut down the annoyance. The way the drums are set up is ok, it doesn’t bother me TOO much, but the kick drums seem to be a little too far in the background most of the time. I’ve never heard another vocalist that has mid-range screams like this guy. Here’s something that’s always puzzled me, his vocals have never sounded as good in any other Demon Hunter album; it’s like the producer had a fluke when producing the vocals. But better than his screams, this guy is one of the best metalcore singers I have ever heard in my entire life. It was actually his singing that first got me hooked on this band when I heard the beautiful chorus from Not Ready to Die.

Remember before when I was talking about how Demon Hunter is REALLY good at smoothly transitioning back and forth between a REALLY heavy and REALLY melodic sound? Here comes the disappointment this album brings. The first seven songs off this album are purely breathtaking. But after the seventh song, you notice the difference between the heavy and melodic parts getting smaller and smaller. This isn’t necessarily BAD…but it does lower the quality of the music dramatically and even ends up getting bland and tasteless by the time you finish the record.

I’m going to recommend this album to you, but only the first seven songs. The other tracks are very special and have their own good sound, but they don’t even come CLOSE to comparing to the first half of the record. I would give this album 16/20. Definitely a must-get for metalcore fans!!

A Past Unknown - To Those Perishing

I’ve known about A Past Unknown for almost four years. I recently saw them for the second time last weekend and picked up a copy of their debut full-length after chatting with the band. I had heard a few songs off the record a month or two before but had long since forgotten what they sounded like. When I saw them, it seemed like they just played everything off the CD, there was one thing about their absolutely crushing performance that bugged me a bit. Unfortunately, A Past Unknown incorporates so many breakdowns in their music that a few of the songs are at the point of reminding me of Emmure. But don’t get me wrong, some of the “breakdowns” are absolutely CRUSHING; but seriously, a breakdown should be used sparingly as a point in the music where the tension that is built up needs to be released in an explosion of fury. But it’s too much if that’s all the music is, because then it isn’t even a breakdown. I’m pretty sure that you’re now thinking that I’m just another one of those deathcore/metalcore/screamo haters, but I’m not, I just know when a band starts overusing breakdowns. So an area that needs improvement is the overall song structure; there needs to be more, something that will pull me in.

The screamed vocals have the angry sound of August Burns Red, but they’re deep enough to remind me of As I Lay Dying. So if I were to put a description on what the vocals sounded like, those are the two bands that I would mention. Although this isn’t necessary (and might not even be fitting), I would LOVE to hear some experimentation by putting in some deep exhaled growls to shake things up a bit. The singing is tranquilizing, not much else needs to be said. The singing does sound a lot different on the CD than it did live in that crappy warehouse that wasn’t made to hold metal concerts (the place where I saw them both times).

The guitars aren’t horrible at all, but they’re really simple and (what some people would call) generic. There are many interesting things that the guitarists do, but it’s mainly just ambient high-pitched notes and softer things. In other words, in the heavy distorted parts, I don’t really hear very much going on other than deep chugging and simple chord changes. But the reason why I’m not bothered by that at all is because it still sounds really cool! They still manage to keep the music engaging enough to keep me listening…but just barely. The bassist seems to be in his own little world, sort of like the bassist from Augury. He switches back and forth between just following the root note of the chords the guitars are playing and going on a completely different path that doesn’t even sound like the song, but still fits (for some reason I can’t figure out).

There are two songs that I want to talk about. The first one is Voice to the Willing, which is a great opening track because it tears apart the assumption that these guys are “just another metalcore band that uses ultra-simple breakdowns”. Once the intro builds up, you get the feel of the tempo and right when you start banging your head to the breakdown, you realize that the complexity of the tempo is actually really high. So just the fact that they came up with something interesting like that made me smile. And right after that, you’re met with that guy’s tranquilizing singing voice that should not EVER leave this band’s music. About halfway through the song is probably the most interesting and catchy breakdowns on the entire record. You’re knocked off your feet with the extremely heavy downbeats with semimelodic (but not technical) lead guitar licks that sound AMAZING. The other song I want to talk about is my favorite off the record, The Critic. This is where the best singing is; the beginning of the song has a driving bass line and frilly guitars and of course, that singing that I can’t keep my mind off of! Now there aren’t very many other breakdowns that release even half as much anger as this one does. When I mean this one, I mean what attacks you right after the beautiful introduction.

This is by no means an amazing release. BUT, this is EXACTLY what I wanted to hear out of these guys…why? Because if a band’s first album is virtually flawless, it doesn’t leave very much room for improvement (and usually doesn’t end up in improvement). So I actually couldn’t ask for any more than what these guys have given me right here, which is an imperfect, but strong album to keep me looking forward to an even stronger release. This is a very strong debut release and will always have a place in my CD collection. I would give this 14/20; not for having flaws, but for having plenty of room for improvement and growth. But that means that I’m going to have some high expectations for their sophomore follow-up. 

Struc/tures - Divided By

Struc/tures is a young progressive metalcore group that is appropriately signed on to Sumerian Records. Sumerian Records is known for being the home to several progressive metal/death/screamo artists which include (but are not limited to) The Faceless, Animals as Leaders, Periphery, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, After the Burial, Asking Alexandria, I See Stars, The Contortionist, and Stray from the Path. Pretty much the only TRULY HEAVY bands that I’ve seen off this label are The Contortionist and The Faceless. The others have some heavy parts, but only The Faceless are able to stand up against the first track off of Struc/tures’ debut full-length.

Everywhere I see Struc/tures mentioned on the internet, I pretty much only see “progressive metal” or “progressive metalcore” under the description. If the whole album sounded like the first song, I would call them full on deathcore because there isn’t anything I’ve heard under metalcore that’s as heavy as this other than The Dead Lay Waiting and Mnemic. I know that this sentence will turn many of you away, but don’t let it do that because I’m not trying to do so, but this band reminds me of Bring me the Horizon in so many ways. In other words, since BMTH has gone way downhill with their 2010 album, Struc/tures is what those young BMTH fans need to be listening to because…well, Struc/tures is better! Although there are some elements that Struc/tures have in their album that are actually the faults in BMTH’s music (like the yelling thing), these guys take those faults and turn them into qualities.

Although the opening track is almost completely deceiving, the rest of the album continues to bludgeon you with down-tuned guitars and breakdowns so loud that they distorted the speakers during the recording process, making it sound like it’s YOUR speakers that are getting killed. The distorting of the speakers thing is unique and cool in its own way, but it’s something that starts to get annoying (my dad raised me as an audiophile, so I’m a freak about clean and crisp recording quality). That aside, this is one of the heaviest and most powerful metalcore albums ever to land a place in my collection.

The vocal styles go all over the place. Although using growls more than anything else; the vocalist uses screams, singing, talking, and even that infamous “Oli Sykes” yell (I know that other artists have been using that since the 1980s, but Oliver Sykes kind of put his face on the vocal style, unfortunately). The vocalist isn’t the BEST singer, but he definitely fits the requirements needed to sound good with the rest of the band.

The song that I would say is the best example of the band’s general sound is Hydroplaning. It shows the sound that (for some reason) almost every other Sumerian band has with the really abstract sounding chords, heavy exploding breakdowns, every type of vocal style used in the album, and tons of melodic parts and guitar soloing. So if you want a general idea of what this band sounds like, Hydroplaning is the song that you should look up first. Encounter reminds me almost completely of this “djent” thing that Sumerian Records has incorporated in almost all of its bands, along with these really fast and complex high-pitched guitar solos (sometimes referred to as guitar “wankery”). But not to say that it’s a totally negative thing, it’s just something that’s starting to become the Sumerian identity, which is not good, because a record label needs to have an extremely diverse range of styles that its bands cover.

Overall, this is a monstrous album and is one of the best progressive metal/metalcore album’s I’ve ever heard in my life. Definitely check this out because it’s not going to be very long before these guys are headlining tours and having big-name bands as opening acts. I would give this album 20/20 for being EXACTLY the metalcore album I’ve been searching for all these years!

Threat Signal - Threat Signal

Threat Signal has been my favorite metalcore band since they released Vigilance in 2009. Since then, I have bought all of their CDs, a shirt (which I am coincidentally wearing now), and have also had the pleasure to see them live in early 2010 when they opened for Dark Tranquility. Obviously, this isn’t a band that is able to think on the road; they’re not one of those bands that can write new material while on tour. Although I might be wrong because I don’t know if they’ve been on any European tours since the release of Vigilance, but they only went on two U.S. tours. So after they finished touring with Dark Tranquility, my friend decided to follow them on their Facebook. They apparently kicked back and caught up on their sleep during the holidays and then said that they wouldn’t be updating as often because they had some stuff to work out and of course, write material for their next album. Those of you that know me well know that Vigilance is by far one of my favorite metalcore albums. For me, it’s one of those albums that make me think “the next album can’t POSSIBLY be as good, if not BETTER, than this!” The instant I put the CD of their 2011 self-titled album in, I knew I was wrong.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of skepticism in me at first because of a misleading statement my friend (mainly a fan of Under Reprisal) made; saying that “the songs got pretty monotonous after a while”. Although I just let it pass because he wasn’t in one of those metalcore phases at the time, it still left some questions in my head that included worry that he could possibly be right. As I’m sitting here now writing this review, I AM SO FUCKING GLAD THAT HE WAS WRONG! Honestly, Under Reprisal gets a little bet repetitive during the last few songs. And although the songs on Vigilance are far more different from each other than the ones on this record, the word monotonous never popped into my head when I listened to it.

The statement that “this is their heaviest and angriest album” is strongly debatable. The reason why is because Under Reprisal sounds heavier and angrier in the guitars and drums because there is a lot more body on the lower end (bass), giving it a MUCH more powerful sound. The vocals tend to also be rougher and dirtier in some parts. But their self-titled sounds angrier than Under Reprisal in some parts as well. I think that most of it lies into the amount of raging emotion that is put into the vocals. That’s one of the reasons why I like screaming so much, because it’s so easy to tell when the vocalist is putting A LOT of emotion in them. Of course it’s more than possible to do that in growling, but I guess that I can hear emotion easier in screams. So in my opinion, this album isn’t HEAVIER than Under Reprisal, it’s ANGRIER.

In this record, Jon’s vocals tend to go back to the Under Reprisal days by focusing mainly on the mid-ranges and lows rather than primarily doing high-pitched screams. This was probably the first thing that I noticed while listening to this. Of course, Jon still does that singing that reminds me of Chester Bennington whenever I hear it (I’m pretty sure he knows that he sounds like him). I didn’t hear him doing any higher-pitched screams in the first track, so I was eager to hear them in the second song, but the first high-pitched tone that reaches his mouth made me cringe. Could it really be possible? Has Jon screwed over his high range? I sure hope not! Although the rest of the highs in that song were better, it still didn’t have that sound that they did in Vigilance. Thankfully, my doubt was saved by New World Order when for that split second, he uttered out a scream that took me back to 2009 when I first heard his voice. So the vocals on this album get my stamp of approval.

I do remember listening to Fallen Disciples when the band posted it on their Facebook (just keep in mind that I don’t have a Facebook account). The unfortunate thing that I remembered about it was that it wasn’t quite as fulfilling and satisfying as I would have liked, but I was going to just let the album play through without me skipping from song to song. Although the first three tracks were AMAZING, I was still looking for something more; something that was going to put that HUGE smile on my face like the third track on Vigilance did. The song that really gave me high hopes was Trust in None. But I still wasn’t getting that feeling!

This is where patience is required, because some bands like to save the best for last. When the opening guitar riff for Disposition leaped out at me, I knew that this was the one. Disposition is like a modernized song from Vigilance. The thing that reminds me of Vigilance in this song is that really complex…I guess you could call it a really fast breakdown (although I wouldn’t consider it a breakdown in any case). Disposition shows every side of Threat Signal that you remember from their previous material and many new sides. When this song finished, my neck was hurting and I instantly had to replay the song before continuing to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.

One thing that I feel I should be able to say is whether this album is better than Vigilance or not. Here’s my answer to that question: this album isn’t better than Vigilance, but Vigilance isn’t any better than this (in other words neither of them is better than the other). This is an album I would give a perfect score for blowing me away despite the misleading statements my friend gave me. I would recommend this to anyone, even if they’re not a fan of the metalcore genre, because this isn’t the “stereotypical” metalcore, this is the LEGIT stuff!

Oh, Sleeper - Son of the Morning

This was my first Oh, Sleeper album, and for some reason still remains their most unknown album (as far as I know, I don’t know many people that listen to them). After releasing their 2007 debut that reached the ears of thousands of kids across the globe, they had to further demonstrate their songwriting and creative abilities by creating an even better record; and they did. Even though they just recently released their best record yet, Children of Fire, Son of the Morning is still a metalcore landmark in my book. There are a lot of changes that they made in their music in the two years after they released When I am God, which is what I’m here to tell you about.

Oh, Sleeper is an openly Christian band, and the reason why I’m making a note of this is because of the album cover, which was the first place where they used their know widely-known symbol. For those of you that can’t quite tell what it is, it’s a “broken pentagram” with the horns missing. Many people perceived this as being a Satanic symbol, but that misconception quickly died out after about a year.

When I saw and heard Oh, Sleeper for the first time in September, 2009, I was blown away. This was before their vocalist apparently cut his hair, because his hair was nearly down to his waist when he walked on stage. Regardless of that, this band doesn’t really fit the rest of the bands that their fans like because they have a more mature and progressive sound than other metalcore bands like Atreyu, Miss May I, and Killswitch Engage. But honestly, that doesn’t really matter because Oh, Sleeper has proved themselves to have the ability to stand out from the metalcore stereotype.

 Now since I’m writing a review on this album from the perspective of someone who has heard all the changes they’ve made in their music in the album after this (Children of Fire), I’m going to do a bit of comparing between the two before I start diving into the hardcore details of Son of the Morning. The biggest improvement that the vocalist has been making with each album is his singing. His screaming has always been top-notch, but his singing really wasn’t that impressive until Children of Fire. There is this one song off Son of the Morning that really bothers me because of the repulsive harmonization during the singing parts; that song is In All Honesty. The amount of technicality in this album is substantially greater than that of Children of Fire, demonstrating that they have tons of creative abilities on top of the technical skills.

The most notable feature of this album is obviously the seemingly constant technical riffs the lead guitarist plays. But that’s not the only thing that makes this album great, even though it’s a huge part of the album’s sound. The overall songwriting that was done on this album is astonishing compared to When I am God, which had really good songwriting to begin with! The song structures are extremely complex (depending on what you’re focusing on when you listen to it) compared to most other metalcore and screamo bands out there. Even though there is a lot of anger and fury contained within the fast parts and the breakdowns, there are frequent moments that are filled with melodic bass lines and huge atmospheric guitar chords that I’ve never heard before.

A band’s second album is always the most important (you’re probably sick of me saying that now). It’s the record that shows that the band has the ability to progress, be even more creative, and to prove that their first album wasn’t JUST a compilation of old songs, that they could actually put together great songs and have them ready for the public ear within a few years. Oh, Sleeper passed with flying colors. In all honesty (pun intended), this album is fucking great; and the Texas metalcore band known as Oh, Sleeper will only continue to get better after this. This earns 16/20. 

Oh, Sleeper - Children of Fire

Oh, Sleeper is extremely underrated amongst the metal community; getting the most attention from kids who primarily listen to screamo, metalcore, and some deathcore. Although the amount of metalheads that listen to them is gradually increasing. This was another band that I was introduced to when I saw Bring me the Horizon in September of 2009; they were the second band to come on after the British metalcore band Architects. I’ll tell you that I was blown away by their professionalism and performance when they were on stage. The instant I got home I downloaded (which at the time was) their new album, Son of the Morning, and was attacked by the same opening riffs that I first heard them play at the show. And just so you know, I have bought their CDs after I decided that they were amazing and deserved my money. Every one of their albums is great, but their sound gets more professional, more creative, and more mature with each album to the point to where they aren’t what some of you people call “crappy scene kids”. This album was just released and it’s called Children of Fire.

The record is filled with emotion, color, and technicality from the first opening line to the ambient guitar feedback at the end. One thing that I should mention is that Oh, Sleeper is one of the most technical metalcore bands out there; having more complex song structures and guitar lines than bands like The Devil Wears Prada and August Burns Red. Most of their technicality lies within the minds and hands of the guitarists. One of the best examples of this technicality would be the title song from Son of the Morning. And even though their technicality is their most prominent and well-known feature, it’s not the only quality they hold.

Children of the Fire uses Son of the Morning as a blueprint; and instead of just creating a whole new sound, they just build off of their 2009 album, making it into something bigger. One of the new sounds that the band has added to their music is the ultra-soft melodic parts with blissful singing and exceptional vocal harmonization. This is even added onto the technical sound of the guitars in Hush Yael, which is immediately followed by the one minute acoustic track to add a touch of melodic beauty and diversity to the record; perfect for those of you that like to hear more than one sound on an album.

And of course what would metalcore be without breakdowns? This album is filled with perfect breakdowns that aren’t that brutal, but still can conduct the heaviest headbanging. My favorite examples from this album would be The Marriage of Steel and Skin, Hush Yael, Endseeker, and the heaviest track on the album, Dealers of Fame; which is where the heaviest breakdowns are released. In other words, the breakdowns are purely amazing.

I remember Son of the Morning not having quite enough bass, making it kind of difficult to listen to on my earbuds at high volumes. The production work on this album is much better. All of the sound levels are perfectly balanced out with a little boost of the vocals. None of the instruments drown out the rest of the band (another sign of professionalism).

My favorite songs off this record are Endseeker, The Marriage of Steel and Skin, Dealers of Fame, and the title track. Let me tell you what I like about the last song on the album, which is also the title track. The part that really spoke out to me is a part that contains my absolute favorite kind of breakdown that always gives me chills and creates a smile on my face; and that is the slow breakdown that is accompanied by the lead guitarist hammering high-pitched technical guitar lines. One of the best breakdowns like that is in The Human Condition from Desolation of Eden by Chelsea Grin. But even though that’s the best one on the album, there are a couple of breakdowns like that in songs like Endseeker and The Marriage of Steel and Skin. Oh, Sleeper couldn’t have chosen a better opening track than Endseeker. Until you hear that song, you have no idea what you’re up against; Endseeker takes all of the different sounds of this album and compresses them into a three minute song. I highly suggest you listen to the other songs I listed above and the rest of the album

This album is definitely the best metalcore release of 2011; showing mind-blowing creativity, maturity, and technicality. Even though I highly recommend you look up this album, I also would suggest that you look up their other two albums because they’re awesome too! I would, though, like to see this band do a little more progression and change on their next album than what they did on this record. This album earns a highly deserved score from me of 18/20.